Raise your suit game with a pin, tie bar or pocket square – it’s all in the details .

The few formal environments where men are still expected to dress in a suit and tie offer little opportunity for personal expression. In an office, or at a black-tie event, it’s hard to find ways to stand out, but there is an inventory of traditional accessories that are as relevant now as they ever have been. These include tie clips, pocket squares and lapel pins. You might not want to wear them all at once, but with some careful deployment these accessories will finesse any formal outfit.

It wasn’t always clear if these accessories would survive into the 21st century. A decade ago, the mood was restrained (think skinny black jeans, a white shirt and a simple blazer) and traditional accoutrements seemed outdated. Two separate cultural currents changed everything. First, a small number of guys started to look back to a time when menswear drew on a richer palette of materials, colours and accessories. The logical conclusion of this can be seen at the dandified peacock parade that is the biannual Pitti Uomo menswear trade show. However, arguably more influential is the fact that nine years ago, _Mad Men _debuted on the US cable network AMC. If the show’s closing scenes in California are fading from the collective memory, its sartorial influence is undiminished. The formal mid-century outfits that Don Draper wore (particularly in the early series), changed the way we dressed by demonstrating how to integrate traditional masculine accessories into a simple modern wardrobe.

Close to a decade on and a jacket or suit looks bare without some kind of adornment.

In the 1930s, men of means – Messers Gary Cooper and Fred Astaire among them – regularly wore a boutonniere in the lapels of their jackets. These single flowers were often carnations, and these were the elegant forerunners for the over-elaborate floral arrangements that today some men wear at weddings. To follow in the footsteps of legendary dressers such as Sir Sean Connery and the Duke of Windsor (both of whom wore carnations with dinner jackets), exercise restraint when picking a flower for your buttonhole – and make sure the stem goes through the hole in your lapel. The combination of a claret-coloured carnation and ivory-coloured tuxedo worn by James Bond in Goldfinger offers a particularly fine example. However, if, like 99.9 per cent of the population, you haven’t got a local florist who’s able to supply you with a daily boutonniere, then consider a beautifully made silk version by Parisian haberdashers Charvet.

Pins or badges sit at the other end of the spectrum from boutonnieres. These provide an opportunity for the wearer to demonstrate his patriotism, activism, support for charities, admiration for a band or, possibly, just his love for fashion. Small badges bearing the name of your favourite punk group (Bad Brains, maybe?) look great on the collar of a denim jacket. Fans of heavy-duty Japanese denim, and the heritage workwear look of Filson and RRL might consider some kind of Native American-inspired pin, while men who take their lead from the catwalk shows won’t want to miss the Saint Laurent pins, which work as well on the lapel of a slim tuxedo as they do on the chest of a velvet blouson.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, tie bars were the preserve of dandyish men who wore loud tweeds around town and had their suits cut in the traditional English manner (ie, they were unflatteringly baggy). The renaissance came in 2007 when Mad Men first screened: the staff of Sterling Cooper favoured a sharper silhouette, complete with a tie clipped neatly in place – a look that soon gained traction outside the fictional ad agency’s Manhattan office. There’s a shot from the show’s first series of Mr Vincent Kartheiser’s character, Pete Campbell, looking like a Thom Browne model in a slim grey suit, simple white shirt, narrow tie and a severe-looking clip. The tie clip is an essential for guys who like to look sharp in their tailoring because it manages to add a layer of ornamentation while simultaneously making the overall effect even more crisp. They don’t call it the “nailed-down” look for nothing.

People like to make sweeping generalisations about cufflinks. Some regard them as ageing, which might concern middle-aged men hoping to arrest their slide towards seniority, but could, equally, be viewed as an advantage by young men seeking to add gravitas to an interview outfit. As ever, it’s all about context. Wear cufflinks with a pink shirt and jeans and you’ll look like a British aristo relaxing at the weekend. But with a simple dark suit, a white shirt and a navy blue tie, you’ll look like a member of the IBM sales force circa 1961 (which, you may be surprised to know, was characterised by its sublimely simple corporate uniform). Cufflinks offer an opportunity for self-expression and vary from whimsical options in metals such as steel (think moths, or pencil sharpeners) to extravagant works of jewellery made from white gold, topaz and stingray. Tailor your choice to your audience.

If you look closely at the way a man dresses, it’s possible to infer a lot about his personality from the details. Does his watch band match the leather on his belt? Is his tie adjusted so that the tip of the front blade brushes the waistband of his trousers? And his pocket square crisply folded to create a neat horizontal line? Or is everything more relaxed, with his tie’s rear blade longer than its front blade, his pocket square carelessly stuffed into his top pocket and the plastic strap on his Swatch bearing no relation to any other colour in his outfit? If the latter image appalls you, then collar stays are for you, as they will ensure that your shirt collar is held taut and wrinkle-free throughout the day.

The collar bar is among the rarest clothing accessories, and it was developed at the start of the 20th century to pep up the then-new and radically informal soft collars. Before then, men wore separate starched collars. Fictional fans for the collar bar include Nucky Thompson, Mr Steve Buscemi’s character in the TV show Boardwalk Empire, and Jay Gatsby, as played by Mr Robert Redford. The bar’s effect is to pinch the two sides of the collar together, push the tie’s knot up so that it arches away from the shirt, and introduce a conspicuous accessory close to the face. Collar pins often take the form of giant safety pins, which have to be pushed through the collar (as favoured by legendary London tailor Mr Edward Sexton), or the more popular collar bar. These have a more serious look about them, and are designed to be worn with shirts with special holes in the collar.

Surveying men in the world’s capital cities, one would imagine that pocket squares have been a constant presence in the top pockets of well-dressed men. Nothing could be further from the truth, as a decade ago they looked about as likely return to fashion as top hats. The pocket square is a newer invention than the handkerchief – by the 1920s, the former (for show) had evolved as a decorative alternative to the the latter (for blow). The pocket square comes in many guises, from sober white linen to exuberant printed silk. Neat white folds are more appropriate for corporate environments than billowing silk arrangements, with the latter intended to suggest that the wearer is au fait with the concepts of joy and relaxation. Either way, the key details to check for in a pocket square are fine fabrics (either pure linen, silk or a mix of wool and silk) and hand-rolled and stitched edges, which look more delicate than machine-stitched edges.

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